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​In the early days of network TV food shows, one of the first on the Food Network was “Cooking Live,” with host Sara Moulton, whom at the time was the executive chef at Gourmet Magazine. The show began on New Year’s Day 1997 and finished five years later on March 31, 2002. The show was actually done live and within a one-hour time frame, Sara prepared a meal and took phone in questions simultaneously.
 
Currently, Sara has a show on public television called “Sara’s Weeknight Meals.” A natural teacher, she explains and demonstrates a recipe giving the viewer confidence to recreate the recipe at home. Recently when watching her show, she prepared a Broccoli and Goat Cheese Souffléed Omelet. The dish looked so inviting. For the recipe you’ll need ½ pound of broccoli (coarsely chopped and precooked), 3 ounces of goat cheese, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, vegetable oil, 5 large eggs (separated) and two tablespoons of all-purpose flour.
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Now through Saturday, my local Shop Rite has flank steak on sale. I wanted to prepare something easy and not from my recipe file. I found a wonderful recipe on the Epicurious app (Gourmet Magazine, July 2007) for Korean-Style Grilled Flank Steak. My husband and I loved the Korean Cheeseburgers last week, and after reading through the recipe, decided this was worth a go. Besides the flank steak you’ll need soy sauce, unseasoned rice vinegar, fresh ginger, garlic, Sriracha, granulated sugar, sesame oil, scallions and sesame seeds. For accompaniments soft leaf lettuce and white rice.  In lieu of Sriracha I used Gochujang
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A few months ago, I was watching the Food Network and Guy Fieri was in Hawaii reporting on the preparation of Huli Huli Chicken.  Huli Huli is barbecue chicken that’s slathered with sauce whose main components are ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar and an acid (rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar or pineapple juice). It sounded interesting, but it wasn’t until The New York Times featured it in their “Here to Help” column that it grabbed my attention. The original recipe is by Alana Kysar, a food blogger who wrote a book called, “Aloha Kitchen: Recipes from Hawaíí,” and adapted by Margaux Lasky.
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​My husband occasionally likes to have an iced cold glass a milk and dunk several cookies for a snack. There aren’t many varieties that can be dunked in milk besides chocolate chip, oatmeal or sugar cookies. Biscotti are great for dunking in hot beverages, but not necessarily milk. Is there another cookie out there that can be dunked?
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​Pork tenderloin is like chicken, its versatile as it can be roasted, grilled or be part of a casserole dish. However, not wanting to repeat one of my tried-and-true pork recipes, I found a new one on my NYT Cooking app for Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Herbs and Capers. The recipe was from food columnist, Melissa Clark, in her column a “Good Appetite” under the article “Putting the Tender in Pork Tenderloin.”
 
Besides pork tenderloin you’ll need, kosher salt, extra-virgin olive oil, shallots, capers, fresh sage, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, fresh garlic, dry white wine or vermouth (or stock), fresh squeezed orange juice, chicken or meat stock, butter and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional). Lucky for me, I had the necessary herbs in my garden. 
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​Although my go to cookie is a chocolate sugar cookie, my husband prefers something else. I’ve tried numerous versions of chocolate chip, but this time I opted for Brown Butter Brownie Cookies. The recipe is by New York food stylist, Jesse Szewcyk and was found on the website “Vanilla Bean Blog.”
 
For the recipe you’ll need bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips, unsalted butter, eggs, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, all-purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, instant espresso powder (optional), baking powder, kosher salt and flaky sea salt (optional). 
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​One day in the New York Times newspaper, they featured a recipe by Kay Chun for Korean Cheeseburger with Sesame-Cucumber Pickles. This simple, yet delicious recipe was packed with tons of flavor.
 
For the recipe you’ll need distilled white vinegar, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, turbinado sugar, Persian cucumbers, low-sodium soy sauce, scallions, fresh garlic, mayonnaise, roasted sesame seed oil, ground beef (preferably chuck or sirloin), American cheese, hamburger buns, butter lettuce, sliced onions and sliced tomatoes.  
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​Buried in my extensive recipe collection was one for Beef Sates with Hoisin Dipping Sauce. A sate for this recipe is marinated skirt steak, skewered either on bamboo sticks or metal skewers and briefly grilled. The recipe is from Gourmet Magazine, August 1998.
 
For the recipe you’ll need wooden skewers, fresh garlic, fresh gingerroot, fresh lime juice, 8-ounces skirt steak, hoisin sauce, ketchup and lime wedges as an accompaniment. It just so happens that this week my local ShopRite will have flat iron steak on sale starting this Sunday, 
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​It’s a beautiful Sunday at the Jersey shore. The temperature is 70° with blue skies, no humidity and wispy clouds above. I’m sitting at my computer reflecting on the delicious dish I made the other evening, Creamy Pasta with Ricotta and Herbs. The recipe is from Melissa Clark of The New York Times from her column “A Good Appetite.” The recipe was captivating as it was made with just a handful of ingredients and relied on fresh soft herbs for flavor. As you recall, I have lots of herbs in my garden this summer. For this recipe you’ll need a short pasta (shells, cavatappi, farfalle, ditali or wagon wheels), freshly grated Parmesan cheese, extra-virgin olive oil, coarsely ground black pepper and fresh soft herbs such basil, chives, fennel fronds, parsley, mint, tarragon, chervil or dill.
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When I was growing up in north Jersey, we lived very close to Willowbrook Mall. Back in the 70’s the mall had a cafeteria style restaurant call “Hot Shoppes.” One of the entrees on the menu was a delicious, crispy fried chicken called Pappy Parker Fried Chicken. The combination of spices intertwined with the coating made for a heavenly dish. I've been trying to find a recipe that captures those flavors. 

 In my Instagram feed, my niece suggested I follow “Brunch with Babs.” If I recall, Babs got started on TikTok with videos she and her daughter created featuring family recipes; she now has a presence on Instagram. Recently, Babs posted her copycat recipe of KFC chicken inspired both from KFC and Cooks Country. Intrigued by this information, I decided to try her recipe. I read through her post which included the recipe and a video preparation.

For the recipe you’ll need 3 pounds of chicken, flour, cornstarch, paprika, black pepper, granulated garlic, sage, thyme, oregano, celery seed, Lawry’s seasoned salt, dried mustard, buttermilk and Bab’s hack of avocado oil instead of vegetable or peanut oil.  It’s a good thing I took a second look at the video while preparing my chicken, the ingredient list neglected to include cayenne pepper. I posted on her page as to how much cayenne is needed, but with 28,300 likes, my little question got lost in the 428 comments! I decided to start with a teaspoon. In lieu of purchasing Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, I found a copycat recipe online.

The other change on Bab’s recipe is to place a cast iron frying pan in a cold oven while preheating the oven to 450°. Once the pan and oven are hot, you add ½ cup of avocado oil for cooking the chicken. Instead of avocado oil, I used corn oil. The chicken cooks for approximately 30 minutes, or until the breasts register 160° and 170° for thighs and legs.
The chicken did have a nice crust, but the flavor was missing something. Could it have been that I needed a tablespoon of cayenne instead of a teaspoon? Other copycat recipes mention the secret ingredient as being MSG (monosodium glutamate) or Accent, as it’s more commonly known. I’m not sure adding Accent would enhance the flavor, but perhaps a heavier hand with certain spices would do the trick. I still prefer the chicken I had at the now closed Redhead Tavern in Manhattan. 

I Googled "Pappy Parker Fried Chicken" and found this on the website "Recipe Box. I haven't tried it yet, but will. I did pick up a good trip from an episode of "Cook's Country;" that is to mix some buttermilk into the flour coating and pinch it together to create small chucks of dough. Please note, it's not the recipe I'm pointing out, but how to achieve a crunchy exterior. 


​meet donna

A former teacher, shop-a-holic, empty-nester redefining quick, family approved dinners.

​If you have questions or comments, click on the envelope icon above to contact me directly. 

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